Need-solution pair recognition by household sector individuals: Evidence,and a cognitive mechanism explanation

Problem-solving by everyday individuals is thought to occur as a two-step process. First, an individual identifies or formulates a problem, followed by entering into a subsequent search to find the best solution. Here, however, we consider an alternative process that everyday individuals may use for solution finding first theorized by von Hippel and von Krogh (2016). Specifically, von Hippel and von Krogh proposed that everyday individuals may sometimes discover a solution and the need it satisfies simultaneously without the need for apriori problem formation, a cognitive process they called “need-solution pair recognition”. Utilizing a rich literature from psychology and neuroscience, we propose that seemingly spontaneous discoveries found by need-solution pair recognition are natural products of the object recognition system and its underlying mechanisms. This view asserts that on encountering an object and reasoning how it might be used (i.e. functional object understanding), an individual's perception of an object may culminate in recognizing the object as a solution, and in some cases, as a solution to a problem previously unknown to him or her, thus bypassing formal problem-formulation and active solution searching entirely. To empirically test this view, we manipulated the ability of everyday individuals to functionally reason about objects while we examined the spontaneous occurrence of solutions found by either need-solution pair recognition or traditional problem-first problem-solving. Consistent with our hypothesized mechanism, our results indicate that need-solution pair recognition occurs more frequently when constraints on functional object understanding are reduced. That is, we found that needsolution pair discoveries outpaced solutions found from traditional problem solving, in environments with unfamiliar objects, where participants were not directed to solve specific problems. Our results provide clear evidence that everyday individuals in the household sector do not always innovate through traditional problem-solving processes, but instead may arrive at solutions as they recognize and reason about objects. Implications for research and practice in household innovation, and for innovation more generally are considered.     

Pricing decisions of consumer innovators

Increasing numbers of consumers who engage in the development of new products are selling their innovations on online marketplaces. We contribute to the scarce research on the commercialization activities of consumer innovators by comparing the consumers’ price decisions with the pricing of firms. Our predictions build on the baseline assumption that the price decisions of consumers are influenced by the same motivations that originally prompt them to innovate. We use a sequential mixed-method approach with a quantitative main study and follow-up qualitative research. The quantitative results draw on a matched-pair analysis of 4,242 computer games released on the online game platform Steam. We find that consumer innovators charge lower prices than firms for comparable games and that consumers and firms show different inclinations in aligning prices with the games’ development costs and perceived quality. The subsequent interview study with 29 hobbyist game developers provides clear support for the motivational explanations of consumers’ pricing decisions. The findings contribute to research on consumer innovation marketing and nascent entrepreneurship. They also improve the understanding of welfare effects resulting from increasing commercial activities of consumers.     

Educational self-regulation competence: toward a lifespan-based concept and assessment strategy

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - Self-regulation is crucial for learning and achievement in educational and occupational contexts. Educational self-regulation has...     

Developing Sound Knowledge of Basic Science Concepts in Children Using Flipped Classroom: A case of simple repeated measures

Education and Information Technologies - Due to the advent of coronavirus disease in most nations throughout the world, the manner of education altered from traditional face-to-face to remote or...     

Educational theory and practice in post-revolutionary times: the European academic debate on the experimental schools in Hamburg (1919–1933) in the 1930s and 1970s

After the revolution in 1918, many reformist teachers were convinced that they could put into practice their dreams of a free and independent school in a democratic republic. Four state schools in Hamburg became anti-authoritarian school communities, in which teachers, parents and students experimented with revolutionary concepts of education. For two schools, the experiment lasted until 1930, when they voluntarily gave up their status as experimental schools. The remaining two schools lost this status in 1933 after the National Socialist seizure of power. The experimental schools in Hamburg attracted the attention of educationalists worldwide, welcoming a large number of visitors during their existence and inspiring academic studies. The German–Swiss educationalist Robert Jakob Schmid presented a critical study on the Hamburg school communities in his doctoral thesis, published in French during his stay in Geneva in 1936. His work fell into oblivion for more than three decades, until it was reprinted in French and later translated into Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian in the 1970s. The publishers of these editions were not interested in spreading Schmid’s critiques regarding the school communities and distorted his argumentation by different means, such as partial translations, shortening the most critical aspects or adding long introductions. In this way, they tried to use Schmid’s study as a tool to support their own argumentative interests in the educational discourse of the 1970s.     

The Religious Roots of Ernest L. Boyer's Educational Vision: A Theology of Public Pietism

The educational theories and policies promoted by Ernest L. Boyer (1928–1995), who served as chancellor of the SUNY system, U.S. Commissioner (Secretary) of Education, and president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, were significantly influenced by his affiliations with the Brethren in Christ Church and the Society of Friends (Quakers) even though he rarely spoke about his faith publicly. Drawing on Anabaptist, pietistic, and apophatic (silence-oriented) theological traditions, Boyer's public career demonstrated a service-focused convictional theology that could be termed “public pietism.” Boyer's educational philosophy focused on human connectedness and called for all citizens to be active participants in improving their communities by living out nonsectarian “consensus virtues.” While Boyer was a strong proponent of the separation of church and state, his public service was imbued with deeply held Christian values.     

Reading comprehension of informative texts in secondary school: A focus on direct and indirect effects of reader's prior knowledge

Text comprehension plays a fundamental role in the processes of acquisition, sharing, and construction of knowledge. Most definitions share the focus on the interaction between text and reader's prior knowledge. In this paper both direct and indirect effects of prior knowledge on reading comprehension have been analyzed, along with other components. Participants were 149 7-graders. Data showed that comprehension of different texts is predicted by different sets of components. Prior knowledge plays a central role, influencing comprehension both, directly and indirectly through the mediation of inferences.     

THE RELEVANCE AND CONSEQUENCES OF PISA SCIENCE IN A DANISH CONTEXT

This article reports a case study that described and analyzed the changes in the Danish school culture induced and encouraged by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. The educational policy and reforms that were temporally connected with the publication of the PISA 2000 results are outlined and the related socioeconomic and sociopolitical influences are explicated. Furthermore, we investigated to what degree the PISA science assessment framework and test system were in accordance with the Danish educational goals in science in order to discuss the relevance of PISA as a catalyst for the educational actions taken. The results of our inquiry revealed areas of good correspondence and fundamental differences related to values underlying the Danish school system and PISA, respectively (e.g., Bildung orientation versus cognitive skills/competency orientation, different learning/assessment paradigms). We argue that such differences are crucial when considering curricular relevance, validity, and the use of PISA as an agent of change on the national level.     

Not all markets are created equal: re-conceptualizing market elements in higher education

Increasing reliance on market mechanisms in higher education is analysed both as one of the approaches to steering as well as in relation to the consequences of markets for quality and accessibility of higher education. This article goes beyond the normative considerations of market elements as inherently good or bad and the economic theory-guided focus on freedoms of users and providers, by presenting an alternative conceptualization. The conceptualization adapted from studies of markets in other parts of the welfare state to the context of higher education is based on two dimensions: (1) who effectively controls production of certain goods and services and (2) how access to and funding of these goods and services are regulated. It focuses on interests of three main actors—the state, the users (students) and the providers (higher education institutions). This leads to six conceptually distinct markets, whose key characteristics are illustrated by examples from Denmark, England, India, Norway, Portugal and Serbia. The key message is that this alternative conceptualization allows identifying variance in marketization of higher education with regards to (1) which actors are empowered, (2) who are the likely winners and losers and (3) what might be the risks of introducing specific market elements in a higher education system. More generally, a more nuanced analysis relying on this conceptualization can potentially contribute to a deeper understanding of political and policy dynamics in higher education.     

Global socio-technical regimes

This paper addresses the question why socio-technical transitions follow similar trajectories in various parts of the world, even though the relevant material preconditions and institutional contexts vary greatly between different regions and countries. It takes a critical stance on the implicit methodological nationalism in transition studies’ socio-technical regime concept and proposes an alternative ‘global’ regime perspective that embraces the increasingly multi-scalar actor networks and institutional rationalities, which influence transition dynamics beyond national or regional borders. By drawing on globalization theories from sociology and human geography, we show that socio-technical systems often develop institutional rationalities that are diffused via international networks and thus become influential in various places around the world. In so doing, we shed light on the multi-scalar interrelatedness of institutional structures and actors in socio-technical systems and elaborate on the implications for the conceptualization of transition dynamics. The paper illustrates this with the case study of an unsuccessful transition in the Chinese wastewater sector. Recent studies indicate that key decisions on wastewater infrastructure expansion were not only influenced by path-dependencies stemming from China’s national context, but equally (or even more critically) by the dominant rationality of the water sector’s global socio-technical regime. We conclude by discussing the contours of a new research agenda around the notion of global socio-technical regimes.